Of course the milk is fresh. The entire cow is in this can.
Rating: 10 out of 10
Pixar has been wearing the sash of “Best in Show” for animation lovers out there since their inception, but Universal, considered by many to be the long-standing underdog in nearly every market, has proven they are on the rebound from earlier disappointments. Sometimes that’s the nice thing about being the dark horse, no one sees you riding up in everyone else’s shadows.
Despicable Me is the tale of a once super-villain named Gru (voiced by NBC Universal go-to-guy, Steve Carell), who has slid down in the ranks of evil over the past few years and is looked upon as a novelty by other villains, his evil banking investors and even his own mother. But that was before he rounded up his assets: a hearing-endangered mad scientist, an army of painfully adorable yellow creatures known as ‘minions’ and three young girls swept out of the local orphanage, all in a dastardly attempt to pull off the greatest heist in history, stealing the moon! Pitfalls and successes abound as Gru struggles against his decision to be the world’s greatest villain or to strive for something he never saw coming.
If there is one key to a successful animated film, it is making one or more of the side characters the most adorable, hilarious, or possibly both, creature or person you could possibly imagine. Aladdin had Genie, Finding Nemo had Dory, Wall-E had Eve (or basically any character in that movie), and here Universal has learned that formula well and created the minions. These yellow oddly pill-shaped creatures that speak in a language uniquely their own provide laughter pretty much every time they grace the screen. I have little doubt that the merchandising for them will be a great bonus for the company and I would be on the look-out for straight-to-DVD spin-offs or short films based solely around these mini-misfits. Although you could only assume what they were talking about most of the time, this once again proved that real well written comedy has a language all its own.
Beyond the hilarious ovals of sunshine, Despicable Me stands up tall with a really tight script that is well paced and well balanced. Supremely funny moments are shared with more heartwarming beats and consistent plot and story. The main character of Gru was almost assuredly tailored for Steve Carell after he signed onto the project because in certain moments you could feel his TV alter-ego Michael Scott from The Office poking through. Normally that might be a tad unsettling and distracting, but the humor worked and Carell delivered, reminding us why he is one of the most sought after comedians on the market right now. The rest of the voice cast, including more big names familiar to the NBC Universal line-up like Russell Brand, Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Mindy Kaling and Jack McBrayer also lent their incredible timing and humorous natures to help make this movie the surprise hit of the year.
I also should mention I did pay the extra few bucks to see this in 3D since I had a feeling that was intended from the beginning and not retrofit into it after the fact, and I was correct. This is the only film I have seen since Avatar that actually had a real use for and benefited from the new 3D fad. I know we are due for more and more 3D films in the coming years, but hopefully they will learn that the decision to add another dimension to the film only works when you make it up front for creative reasons and not after the movie is finished for purely financial ones.
The End of the Page Recommendation: It’s a 10 out of 10, people. See it!
Already seen it? What did you think? How does it rank in your list of favorite animated films?
Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 9:00 am. Add a comment
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Rating: 8 out of 10
Sure, the title of this film betrays a certain type of long fought battle, both in classic films and popular culture, but underneath that is another battle currently raging in theaters all over the world, the battle for animation supremacy! It really stands between two animation giants, Pixar and Dreamworks Animation, with Disney goofily bouncing around on the outskirts trying to nudge its way back into prominence. Pixar has the upper hand right now in sheer quality in the picture-after-picture race, but Dreamworks has brought the smackdown in a big way with its mega-hit Shrek franchise (known in certain circles as the “Ogre who saved Dreamworks”) and its newest cartoon smash, Kung-Fu Panda, which completely swept last years Annie awards (the animation version of the Oscars), beating out the critically acclaimed Wall-E (although, that did go on to win the Oscar). Now Dreamworks is bringing a solid right hook punch with its newest release, Monsters Vs. Aliens, and taking a gander at the $58 million dollar opening weekend, it’s not a knockout blow, but ears are definitely ringing in the halls of Pixar. Does this mean one will eventually destroy the other? Certainly not. In actuality this is a wonderful thing because it forces both companies to work even harder to create better stories and better products for us, the happy and popcorn-covered viewers.
The story of Monsters Vs. Aliens centers around a young woman named Susan who is getting ready to walk down the aisle on the happiest day of her life, but it is drastically altered when an asteroid filled with Quantonium lands directly on top of her, causing her to grow with enormous strength and size. Quickly snatched up by the government she is placed in a secure underground facility where she meets the rest of her monstrous cohorts. Lucky for Susan and her new friends, an alien decides to invade and conquer Earth and this ragtag team of mutants is the only things that stands between Earth and total enslavement by a new squidgy overlord. (I was informed “squidgy” is not a real word and while that may be true, say it out loud, feel it in your spine, and you’ll catch my meaning.)
Drama! Conflict! Explosions! This has it all, but we all really know what we’re in the seats for: laughs! Written by an entire cadre of screenwriters, the script amazingly makes it to screen without feeling like a Jenga tower holding on for dear life. The throughline is tight, the purpose is well-plotted and the jokes are a quickfire barrage of humor both for the adults and the kids. My feeling is a good deal of the humor might be missed by the younger ones, but they’ll still be delighted and tickled by the animated characters themselves. What isn’t funny about a talking pile of blue goo?
Witherspoon plays Susan, who is later renamed Ginormica, and she doesn’t get a lot of the laugh lines, but she drives the heart of the story and her “best friend/girl-next-door” voice helps land that perfectly. Rogen is a genius as the gelatinous nimrod known as B.O.B., who steals cinematic second after second until he finally peaks in a beautiful moment of romantic conquest (you’ll have to see it to figure that one out). Laurie takes on Dr. Cockroach Ph.D., which in itself is sheer typecasting since he really just gives us an old-timey version of Dr. House, who already borders on “mad scientist”. Arnett voices the Missing Link, who gets huge boosts from Arnett’s skill at playing the oblivious, but heartfelt. Sutherland walk easily into the role of General W.R. Monger, which is a personal favorite pun, and lets us listen for a moment what it would be like if Jack Bauer finally gained full control of the military. Wilson won the dubious pleasure of creating the sound of Gallaxhar, the multi-tentacled maniac who wants to take over the planet. I slowly began to wonder if his other character, Dwight on The Office, is hiding any other limbs or alien bits. Lastly, more for the adults in the audience who follow political spoof news, Colbert voices the President of the United States and is painfully perfect in every way, from his effort to sway the alien with a rendition of Alex F (theme song from Beverly Hills Cop, for those unschooled in the best of 80′s comedy films) to his reaction when noticing the nuclear launch button looks the same as his fresh latte button. It’s easy to see the characters were altered to fit the sound and personality of the cast, which usually means lazy casting or poor writing in the first place, but here it truly meant the marriage of two amazing things to bring something incredibly funny to the screen.
Recommendation: There weren’t any particular moments where I was knocked on the ground, clutching my belly full of giddy bliss, but there was a distinct constant rumbling of chuckles, guffaws, and outright laughter. This fits nicely into the family outing evening or afternoon and should be a film that sees a good lifespan in the theater and even better when it crashes onto DVD. I’ll also go out on a limb here and say little kiddies everywhere are going to be squeezing their own stuffed versions of Insectasorous or B.O.B. in the very near future. Hell, I might be one of them.
Posted 2 years, 10 months ago at 5:26 am. Add a comment
Would it be possible to get mine in something a little more lighthearted? Possibly periwinkle or neon?
Although numerous critics around the country have already had their own awards ceremonies and passed out a handful of gold plated statuettes, there are only two awards which really catch the eye of the mass populace: the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Most people feel a Golden Globe win for a particular movie is a safe bet for the Oscar, but since the categories are surprisingly different between the two shows, there is not always a direct overlap. Some of the nominees listed below are surprising and some are exactly what we expected to see, but let’s scroll through and I’ll let you in on where I think things might go (and also where I think they deserve to go, which can be completely at odds with each other). I won’t go through the TV nominations because I only watch a handful of shows, but I think we will see the usual suspects on stage that night: 30 Rock, The Office, House M.D. and anything HBO decided to make this year.
So far I have seen three of these movies (Benjamin Button and Revolutionary Road still to come), but Slumdog Millionaire is starting to look like the dark horse rearing up from behind. It has already won a couple of Best Picture Awards, which gives it a nice momentum, but in the Hollywood circles, Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon seem to be the ones to beat. The surprise here is Milk and The Dark Knight being stepped over. I would credit Slumdog for knocking one of them out, but to see both without a Best Picture nod here doesn’t bode well for Oscar season. Personally, I think The Dark Knight still has a good chance, but Milk I believe will fall by the wayside in lieu of better films this year. Back to the Globes, from the ones I have seen, Slumdog deserves the win.
Now this has always been a little bit of a sticking point for the Golden Globes. Do we really need the separation of Drama and Comedy/Musical? Couldn’t they follow along with the Oscars and just crown one movie Best Picture of the Year? I know the argument against is the Oscars don’t reward comedies nearly enough, and that part is true. The Academy should learn to step down from their weepy, heartwrecnhing high horse and celebrate films that make us laugh, even if it’s from a well-timed fart joke. But in the end, I think it is still worthwhile to be able to group and contrast all movies together and crown one a victor for the year. Anyway, onto the category at hand, the happy surprise here is In Bruges, which didn’t pull in major box office, but was widely lauded by the critics. I saw a screening of it early on and was blown away by how funny, irreverent and tight the script was, along with being impressed with the performances across the board from Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. So, kudos to them and the team from In Bruges for a well-deserved nomination. Now cut that celebratory emotion out when we come to Burn After Reading, which is far from being the best we’ve seen from the Coen brothers. This was a quirky character piece, enjoyable in particular sections, but nowhere near awards potential. This nomination alone helps to prove the case for not separating the genres, because films like this slip onto the ballot. Woody Allen can be happy to get a nod once again, but I foresee him going home empty-handed that night. I haven’t seen Happy-Go-Lucky, but never take your eyes off the British when it comes to heartwarming comedies, they’ll sneak up on you. The real front runner here is Mamma Mia, which sparked a worldwide phenomenon and single-handedly helped Universal Pictures weather the current economic strain. At last count, it brought in an incredible $570 million dollars worldwide. People love their Abba evidently. I would love to see In Bruges take the crown, but I think Mamma Mia will be the one dancing on stage that night.
BEST DIRECTOR
· Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire * (Deserves to Win) WINNER
· Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road (Most Likely Winner)
I always find it hard to differentiate between Best Picture and Best Director. If you have the Best Picture of the Year, most of the time that should indicate you’ve done the best job in Directing. It’s no surprise that we see the exact same movies here as we do in the Best Picture – Drama category. So for the moment, until I see the last two of these movies, I’m sticking with Danny Boyle and Slumdog for most deserving. As for who will actually take it, Mendes could split up the pack, but Howard and Fincher are the front runners.
Sean Penn was the best thing going in Milk, so this is well deserved for him, but the critical buzz and momentum behind Mickey Rourke could make this the year of the grizzled warrior. I’ve yet to see The Wrestler, but his performance is said to be a career topper. Brad Pitt hasn’t been able to clinch a victory since his Best Supporting Golden Globe for 12 Monkeys. That’s not saying he hasn’t done good work since then, since he’s almost always in the race, but someone always sneaks by and pulls the golden statues from his grasp. Frank Langella won heaps of praise for his role in Frost/Nixon on stage as well as on screen, but it won’t be enough to overcome the rawness and sheer intensity of Penn or Rourke. That leaves DiCaprio, who may very well be amazing in the role, but I have caught it yet and I can’t tell whether this will be a disappointing or deserved loss for him.
Anyone who knows me is well aware of my affinity for Anne Hathaway, but that aside, she does deserve all the accolades being heaped on her for her turn in Rachel Getting Married. It was a serious departure for her from her normal fare and served to prove once again the range and power she can handle. The closest behind her is Kate Winslet, who supposedly got this role pushed up for Best Actress instead of her performance in The Reader because the studio believes she has a better chance with this film. As you’ll read further down, this might work against her. Now Angelina found time in her efforts to become a living saint to churn out another nominated performance, but honestly this feels a little like “starf*#king”. She is an incredibly talented actress, but Changeling was really only one emotion for her the whole way through and felt a little draining by the time it was done. As for Meryl, Doubt is still to come on my list of things to see, but hopefully I’ll be able to separate my appreciation for her acting away from my deep-seeded loathing of religious zealotry. She’s going to have to fight hard to make that happen. Lastly, Kristen is a strong actress, so she could slip in with this small indie film, but it’s slipped past me as well, so they’ll have to make a strong push to the voters to make sure they’ve caught it and remembered it in the big ole’ mix.
BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
· Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona * (Deserves to Win)
It’s hard to say who will win this. It’s a category filled with highly talented people, but out of the three performances I have witnessed, I’m putting my vote towards Rebecca Hall. She was able to overcome the sheer fact of being the main character in a Woody Allen film that barely got any billing on the posters because she was surrounded by A-List names, two of which were also nominated, and still managed to steal almost every scene she was in. There was an honesty in her which eclipsed the supporting players and truly made her stand out. Meryl deserves her share of credit for lending her voice and her talent to such an unlikely phenomenon, but it looked like it was more sheer fun than talent which brought this movie to the list. As for Frances McDormand, once again I can only say I don’t feel Burn After Reading deserves to be on the list at all. She was funny at moments, but this was not an award-winning role for her and barely seems to qualify as a lead actress piece. To Emma and Sally, I have heard good things on both fronts, but they are tougher movies to track down showtimes for.
BEST ACTOR: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
· Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona * (Most Likely Winner)
· Colin Farrell, In Bruges * (Deserves to Win) WINNER
Javier is still riding the wave of love from the Academy last year and the praise for No Country for Old Men, so some of that will surely bleed over into this year. I’m not saying he wasn’t good in this film, but I think this will give him the little edge he needs to separate himself from the pack. Colin, on the other hand, has not had the best relationship with the award audiences or the Hollywood scene in total, but he really let himself dive into In Bruges and it really showed. Whether you like him or not as a person, you just can’t help laugh with/at him in this hilarious movie. Appearing all over the place in the last few years, James Franco scored a nomination for playing an incredibly realistic pot dealer and stoner extraordinaire, but once again I am surprised that the committees felt this was a truly worthy performance, especially with his role in Milk being overshadowed. Brendon Gleesn is equally good in In Bruges, but Colin just happens to be playing the more important and charged role, so he steals a touch more of the focus from the audience. If you follow Hollywood at all, you can never count out Dustin Hoffman in a race like this. He could do a five minute cameo as a salesman for Japanese tea and you could guarantee a Independent Spirit Award would be engraved and waiting for him.
· Kate Winslet, The Reader * (Deseves to Win, also Most Likely Winner) WINNER
This is a sparse category for me right now, with only two movies actually seen, but I think Kate will take this one home. Splitting the voters can sometimes work against you if you are going for both Best Actress and Best Supporting in the same year. Unless the Best Actress category is weak, the voters will most of the time give the conciliation gift of Best Supporting and pass the Best Actress onto someone else, which will benefit Anne and Angelina. I’ve heard good things about Marisa and her role in The Wrestler, but that could also be her getting swept up in the hype over Mickey Rourke. Doubt truly looks to be a heavy movie in terms of performances, so I’m sure both Viola and Amy are worthy nominations, but I’ll know more once I get a chance to view them.
This should be a fairly obvious category. Heath was entrancing as The Joker in The Dark Knight and his tragic demise only makes the story more poetic. Right now the only real question is who the studio will send up on stage to accept the award on his behalf (I think it should be Bale or Nolan). Even though the hype machine has built this up to epic proportions, Heath really does deserve the accolades. Robert Downey Jr. bit off more than anyone else could chew by doing modern day blackface in Tropic Thunder, but he pulled it off brilliantly and I’m thrilled he got the nomination. The same goes for Tom Cruise, who basically relaunched his career in the public’s heart with a hilarious turn as a meglomaniacal studio exec. As for Hoffman and Fiennes, both are extremely talented actors and I’m sure they do great jobs in their respective films, but this year belongs to Heath. No joke.
· Waltz With Bashir (Israel) (Total guess, just so I have a choice noted) WINNER
Unfortunately I haven’t seen any of these, but the ones getting the most buzz are I’ve Loved You So Long and Waltz With Bashir. Bashir is also a crazy animated film, which could work against it in terms of voters thinking it is represented in the wrong category, or it could help differentiate itself from the pack and grab some swing votes. For me, this is totally up in the air.
· Wall-E * (Deserves to Win and Most Likely Winner) WINNER
Wall-E is a lock here and if something else goes down the Hollywood Foreign Press will never mean a damn thing to me again. The little story of “the robot who could” has already been winning awards, but not for Best Animated Feature, it’s been taking the top prize as Best Picture of the Year in a handful of critics associations. Kung-Fu Panda was very well done and worthy of nomination, but I can’t say I felt the same about Bolt. Bolt was cute, but didn’t give me the impression of a stand-out animated film. I still don’t understand why there are only three chosen for this category, since The Tale of Despereaux (still to be released) and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa both garnered some critical acclaim. Nevertheless, Pixar has dominated once again and Wall-E will safely be able to store this award away with all his other trinkets.
BEST SCREENPLAY
· Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire * (Deserves to Win) WINNER
This could actually go to anyone. Out of the three I have seen, I might lean towards Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire, but the momentum of the movie could work against him if the voters decide they don’t want to create a “sweep” type of situation. Peter Morgan and David Hare both did excellent jobs bringing history to the masses and making it intriguing. Critics are already saying great things on both fronts for Doubt and Benjamin Button, so they certainly cannot be counted out. I’d truly be happy anywhere the ball drops in this one.
· Hans Zimmer, Frost/Nixon * (Deserves to Win and Most Likely Winner)
Here you have three of the most cherished in the musical score business: Zimmer, Howard and Eastwood (who just has to prove he can do everything better than the rest of us ). I’m leaning towards Zimmer because his score did such a beautiful job of intensifying a story of two men in chairs sitting across from each other, but once again, I think this category is a toss up. In reality, they are all just lucky John Williams only worked on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, since no one really liked a damn thing about that travesty.
Best Original Song
- “Down To Earth” – Wall-E (Music By: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyrics By: Peter Gabriel)
- “Gran Torino” – Gran Torino (Music By: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens, Lyrics By: Jamie Cullum)
- “I Thought I Lost You” – Bolt (Music & Lyrics By: Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele)
- “Once In A Lifetime” – Cadillac Records (Music & Lyrics By: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarmon, Ian Dench, James Dring and Jody Street)
- “The Wrestler” – The Wrestler (Music & Lyrics By: Bruce Springsteen) (Total Guess, but I’ll say Most Likely to Win) WINNER
It was pointed out to me while finishing up this post that I had left out the Best Original Song category. Since it still falls under the film umbrella, I’ll take a stab at an opinion. Clint Eastwood shows off again by gaining a nomination in yet another category not familiar to most actors, but in here he’s going toe-to-toe with the pros of the trade. Wall-E brings Peter Gabriel to the table, while Bolt totes along tween megastar, Miley Cyrus. Both are big hitters, but Cadillac Records sticks out with Beyonce, who just got awarded with “#1 Single of the Year” by Rolling Stone Magazine for her insanely catchy track, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”. Yet, when it comes to truly moving an audience, few people can do it better than all-American music legend Bruce Springsteen. I’m feeling he could pull this out the same way he did with “Streets of Philadelphia” from the movie Philadelphia. It goes to show, don’t mess with The Boss.
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Posted 3 years, 1 month ago at 2:47 pm. Add a comment
I’m sure you know my companion here. He’s in every comedy this year.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
It’s been a long time coming. Finally someone tackled the incredibly hard genre of porn parody in the mainstream film world. This area has been begging to be cracked open and poked fun at for decades, almost since the inception of porn itself. The missing link in this universal quest was waiting for the right director to come along, one with enough guts to get down and dirty with the humor, one with enough skill to handle the depravity of the comedy without losing the audience, and finally one with enough of a following that it wouldn’t matter if he videotaped a poster of dogs playing poker for two hours. That director has come and he bears the name Kevin Smith…or does he?
Zack and Miri Make a Porno is the childishly charming story of two best friends who find their wallets bone dry and no prospects for paying their long overdue bills until Zack has the brilliant epiphany of shooting a porno starring themselves. Leading this adult-themed romp, Zack and Miri pull together a cast and crew of porn outcasts and misfits, along with some familiar faces to the comedy world, and form a family they didn’t know they were missing until it was already there. Along the way Zack and Miri also deal with the most common question between two best friends of opposite genders: Will sex change us?
Before even breaching the doorway of the theater any audience member who knows the name Kevin Smith is prepped and ready for dirty jokes, loads of sarcasm and possibly male nudity, but after the past year of R-rated comedies and the explosion of Judd Apatow, none of those previous shock factors hold much weight anymore. What Kevin Smith had to rely on in this film was his own personal style of witty dialogue and banter, exemplified early in Smith’s career with Clerks, where Dante and Randal debate over the righteousness of killing unionized Storm Troopers in The Empire Strike Back. That conversation would never appear in any other director’s works, let alone in their heads. Unfortunately Zack and Miri didn’t reach quite the same level of kitsch or intellectual playfulness we are used to from Smith. There are certainly moments of it sprinkled throughout, but the overall feel was a let down from his normal style. This could be the result of what every director goes through while they try to expand their market and skills (and this will only be further detailed in 2010 with the release of Smith’s first horror film, Red State), but the main difference now is when Smith first erupted onto the scene he was the lone torch bearer for the R-rated comedy world and now Apatow has taken the flame and run with it. With Zack and Miri lacking the spark and wit usually associated with Smith, it is too easy to mistake this for any new director being towed along in the Apatow wake. Now don’t take this to mean I didn’t like the film, I most certainly enjoyed myself, but it just left me wanting more of the Kevin Smith-ness I yearned for (which was easily solved by a quick jaunt home and a return viewing of Dogma…God bless that movie!).
Adding slightly to the Apatow undertone is the casting of Seth Rogen as Zack, who has been pleasurably riding along with Apatow and his crew since the days of Freaks and Geeks. This is not a slight on Rogen at all, because he has certainly done his homework and made all the efforts to be where he is today, but a large number of his big projects, especially in recent film history, have been under the banner of Apatow films, if not directed by the man himself. So audiences have certainly come to know Rogen and the style he brings to any raunchy or over-the-line comedy, but I didn’t quite feel he brought anything new to the table this time. He proved once again he can believably deliver heartfelt dialogue and make the audience care, but that was a doubt he previously shattered in Knocked Up. I laughed at the moments he wanted me to, yet I still felt he won’t be overly remembered for this performance. Skipping up alongside Rogen is Elizabeth Banks as Miri. Banks is also not a stranger to fans of Apatow with her side character turn in The 40-Year Old Virgin, but she has been equally busy in recent history on a number of other projects as well. In this movie she tries to show us the internal struggle of a woman fighting to keep her most important friendship strictly platonic, while also filming a porn flick to save her from being evicted. What woman hasn’t gone through that? She has her share of moments, but again doesn’t leave anything completely memorable for the exiting audience. On other parts of the casting front we see some familiar names from Smith’s View Askew-niverse; Jason Mewes, or more commonly known as Jay of Jay and Silent Bob, and Jeff Anderson, who has been delighting audiences as Randal since Clerks. Mewes plays Lester, the low budget porn actor with incredibly useful talents and a well versed knowledge of any and all sexual techniques. Half of his dialogue, funny as it may be, comes off like a recital from urbandictionary.com. Anderson joins in as Deacon, the cameraman-cum-editor who finds himself in the most precarious of positions. Also well known to comedy fans is Craig Robinson, who in this film plays Delaney, Zack’s co-worker and newly crowned porn producer, but to most of the television audience out there he is better known as Darryl, the big, bad plant worker from The Office. Craig is on a hot streak right now many actors spend their lives dreaming for and the best part of it is, we the audience get the benefit of watching his comedic genius even more. Popping in to give the movie some realistic porn flavor are Katie Morgan and Traci Lords, the former a current adult film star and the latter one of the few to retire and make a mainstream transition.
There is one more person worth mentioning and I made sure to save the best for last, even giving him his own paragraph. Justin Long, a terribly underrated actor, turns in the most hilarious performance as Brandon, the gay porn star who first inspires the wild idea in Zack’s head. He only has two scenes in the film, one of which you must stay halfway through the credits to watch, but trust me, it is totally worth the wait. I shudder to think how many takes were blown when other actors lost their composure watching Long in this role. He grabs a hold of this utterly ridiculous persona and never lets go, practically daring the other actors to break character. His performance alone raised the score of this movie a full point in my book.
Recommendation: True die hards of the Kevin Smith clan might not be blown away by this, but it could possibly reach a broader audience previously turned off by Kevin’s normal banter and intentionally clever writing. It doesn’t end up on the bottom of my Smith totem pole (you’re still safe down there, Jersey Girl), but it does make me readjust what I expect to see from him in the future. Same skill, less nerdy wit.
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Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 10:26 pm. Add a comment
1 – There are Star Trek fans, then there are Trekkies, then there’s this guy. We have now found the place that personifies the old adage, “It’s nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there” [via Film School Rejects]
2 – Take ten minutes today, this morning, whenever, to sit down and watch this video. It’s about a brilliant artists and his show in SoHo in New York. There is inspiration in simplicity and he’s found it. [via swissmiss]
3 – Once Peter Jackson pulled out of the project, the studio disappeared as well and video game fans around the world were saddened by the illusion of a ass-kicking Halo movie. Now that shimmering image has gotten a little boost back into reality. Stuart Beattie, who just penned the G.I. Joe script, wrote a spec script for it and if the toy soldier movie does really well, we just might see life breathed back into Halo. Now if someone would just pony up the $200 million dollars it will take to make it look good. How much of a credit limit boost do you think Capital One gives? [via Film School Rejects]
4 – What do you do when you have one of the most successful and critically acclaimed shows on TV? Spin it off, of course. The creative types over at NBC are giving people what they seem to want, more Office than they can shake a stick at. Very little, actually nothing, is really known about the Office spinoff, but you can be sure it will be worth watching if it’s made by the same creative team. Set TiVo’s to chortle. [via Perez Hilton]
5 – How long have I been saying this, we really needed to figure out a way to not only have remote controls that do everything, enabling us to not move at all from our uber-comfy couch, but I also demand that we not have to even touch the remote control, since that involves actual work. Well, it seems the design folks over at Bang & Olufsen were listening. Let me introduce you to the touchless remote control: [via Josh Spear via endgadget]
6 – NBC is breaking the rules and personally, I think it’s a smart move. With a network that has been openly struggling to get itself back in the game, sometimes you need to change the rules of the game. NBC is going into a 52-week schedule this coming year, fewer repeats, constant stream of new programming, which can translate to continued high rating and tons of advertising dollars. Me thinks people under the peacock have been earning their feathers recently. Nice work. [via Starpulse]
7 – I’m not sure making a movie showing Genghis Khan to be a nice guy or righteous is going to fly with major audiences, but if I ignore that fact and just watch epic sword battles in the desert, well now you have my attention. [via FilmDrunk]
9 – With the gap in the Pennsylvania primary closing steadily, Obama has even more reason to celebrate. He raised $40 million dollars last month in donations, still without the help of big business and special interests. How someone can look at this campaign and say he doesn’t have the support of the country is completely beyond me. [via CNN]
10 – Admittedly, the guy in this video gets a little excited, but I think the concept is a solid one. Take a moment today, or if you’re bold take the whole day, and just converse about positive people. People who inspire you, people who make you want to support charity or help out people less fortunate than you. Anyone who gives you a boost in a positive direction. Spend your day talking those people up to your friends and colleagues and let’s just see what that does for society as a whole. Could we actually bring it to a place where good people become more revered than popular people? Dare to dream! [via swissmiss]
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Posted 3 years, 10 months ago at 9:17 am. Add a comment
Of course the milk is fresh. The entire cow is in this can.
Hi, we’re here to offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Have you ever thought about working from home?
Would it be possible to get mine in something a little more lighthearted? Possibly periwinkle or neon?
). I’m leaning towards Zimmer because his score did such a beautiful job of intensifying a story of two men in chairs sitting across from each other, but once again, I think this category is a toss up. In reality, they are all just lucky John Williams only worked on 
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